BUILDING GETS ARTFUL TREATMENT CENTER'S BACKERS HELP PAINT MURAL

FORT LAUDERDALE -- With paint brushes in hand on Saturday and the resignation of its executive director fresh on their minds, supporters of the Broward Performing Arts Center proved the show must go on.

"It's business as usual," said authority chairwoman Karen Margulies. "I think this is a prime example to see 25 to 30 people in 95-degree weather on a Saturday morning painting a building."

It was more like a giant paint-by-numbers mural on the rear wall of the center's administration building at 624 SW Second St. It can be seen from Southwest Second Street.

"We're trying to get as much attention and as much publicity as we can for the center," said Dorran Russell, a Fort Lauderdale artist and chairman of the center's booster group, Interested Members of the Performing Arts Center Team.

"This is a fun project, and we're going to have fun completing it," said Russell, who had outlined the mural depicting a theater audience watching a couple dance on stage.

Russell said it took about two weeks to draft the mural on paper. Each row in the audience will be a different "Florida trend" pastel color, he said.

For instance, No. 13 is tudor red, No. 11 is enchantress and No. 7 is gentility.

The attention is needed to help center supporters raise $3 million by January for the planned theater on the 11-acre site. The theater is expected to cost $38.5 million and is scheduled for completion in 1989.

Supporters at the paint party said the resignation on Thursday of executive director Sidney J. McQueen will not delay construction of the theater or dampen their spirits.

"It's going to happen and it's going to happen on schedule," Russell said. "I think it's going to be a pretty smooth transition. There are too many other people who can carry the ball."

IMPACT members said they shed their weekday suits and dresses for jeans, T- shirts and sneakers to be part of the center's history.

"It's an opportunity for the community to have a hands-on experience in building the Performing Arts Center," said Jim Brady, a lawyer and center supporter.

John J. Turchon, the center's newly appointed interim director, agreed: "It's going to add even more to the idea that there's a park out there turning into a palace."